


The Prodigal Son

by Aviss



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Canon - Book, F/M, Fluff, POV Outsider, Post-Canon, Stocking Filler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:28:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28263918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aviss/pseuds/Aviss
Summary: Spring has finally come to The Seven Kingdoms, and the people in the Westerlands prepare to receive their Lord and Lady, who nobody knows but everyone is curious about.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 62
Kudos: 224
Collections: JB Festive Festival Exchange Stocking Stuffers 2020





	The Prodigal Son

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EryiScrye (SomberSecrets)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomberSecrets/gifts).



> For the lovely EryiScrye, I was browsing the promps and this one just jumped out at me, I love me some established relationship - small acts of love, and seeing them through the eyes of strangers is one of my favourite tropes. I hope you like it.

Spring had finally come to the Westerlands after the longest and harshest winter in memory, something Celys had not been sure they would live to see. The realm had been ravaged by war and cold and famine, too many people had died during that time, and even those living in Lannisport and the small towns surrounding Casterly Rock had felt the bite of hunger, something not even the Lannister gold had been able to keep at bay. 

Now the snow had melted and the sun warmed them again, a new crop had been planted and there was a new Targaryen King in King's Landing, one with the blood of the dragons but raised as a northerner, and the Lord of Casterly Rock was his Hand. 

And now the prodigal son was coming home.

It had come as a surprise when the rumours started; everyone knew about Lord Jaime and his sister's forbidden relationship, and the tragedy of the Lannister boy King and his crazy mother. Lord Jaime had disappeared into thin air and left her to her judgement, only to reappear a year later leading the army from the North beside King Jon and with a huge woman by his side to take the throne from all pretenders. 

Now, a year later and with the arrival of spring, the entire gold road was abuzz with the news that Lord and Lady Lannister were riding towards Casterly Rock, some measure of excitement into catching a glimpse of their new Lady. 

"I have heard she's bigger than him, and stronger," Leana, the washerwoman, had said that morning when taking Celys's linens to the river, her voice breathless with excitement. "And as ugly as that brute Clegane." A shudder ran down Celys at the mention of that name, her little inn was close enough to the old Clegane keep that nobody had cried for that monster. "I've heard she's a Stark bannerwoman, a bear of some kind of island, and they forced him to marry her to make sure he didn't kill the new King like old Aerys."

Celys didn't put much stock on Leana's words, the woman was the biggest gossip in the town, after all, but she was curious. What kind of woman would marry a man such as he? Though what she'd heard of Lord Jaime since his return was that he was a good and fair hand, and that he had ensured there was enough to feed as many of his people, and the people from other houses, as long as the remaining Lannister gold could buy food. 

That was enough in Celys's books, who cared nothing if he had killed a bad King ages ago but for what he did now as their Lord.

She didn't think of that for the entire day until the sun set and the few travellers who could afford it filled her inn, there were more each day, and that was always a good sign. She was ladling some stew for a merchant bound for Lannisport when the door opened and two big cloaked figures stepped in.

She looked at them, something like dread filling her gut. The hoods covered their faces and they were carrying big swords, and that brought bad memories to everyone from the area, especially when they didn't remove the hoods as they approached her. 

"Do you have any room?" one of them asked, and Celys did a double take at the voice and accent. A noble born, and a woman. Under the hood she could see wisps of blond hair and riding dark leathers, nothing more, but the voice had been unmistakably femenine.

"I do," she said, heart slowing down a bit. "Best room in the inn, too."

A noble woman. In breeches. That was something they had not seen before, and somehow it put her at ease. Of course a noblewoman would be hooded traveling those roads, whether she was armed or not.

"Does it have a bath?" the other one, a man, asked. He also sounded nobleborn, and his accident was from the Westerlands.

"Yes, do you want me to prepare it for you?" The woman placed a gold dragon on the table and Celys goggled at it. That was more than the room was worth, more than she made in a day of food and bed for weary travellers.

"We'll also have some of that stew brought to the room and some ale," she said in the commanding tones of nobles everywhere. 

"Yes, milady." She gave them the key and called Rogis, her son, to bring them up pallets of warm water from the back while she got the food and drink ready.

The door to the room was ajar when Celys made it up the stairs with her tray, heavy with stew, ale, and some of the bread she had baked that morning. She had also added a couple of apples from the orchard in the back, still a bit hard and tart, but they were the first crop in too long and a luxury not many people had. She walked slowly to make sure the brimming bowls didn't spill, still thinking about the gold dragon now stuffed inside her boot and which she could feel pressing against her toes with each step. 

"We could have pushed on, Jaime," the woman was saying, and Celys startled at the name. It couldn't be, could it?

"You are tired, wench," he said as Celys opened the door fully with her hip, coming into the room. Rogis was by the tub, filling it, his eyes wide and shocked on his face the answer to her unasked question. "Casterly Rock is not going anywhere, they can wait another day for us."

"I am not that delicate," the woman, Lady Lannister, protested, her voice sounding frustrated. Celys wanted more than anything to turn and look at them, see her with her own eyes, but forced herself to keep her back to them and give them a measure of privacy, and went to place her load on the table beside the tub.

"Stubborn woman, you got no sleep because of my nightmares," Jaime added, voice barely carrying in the suddenly hushed room. 

There was a loud splash and Celys turned to see Rogis flustered and fumbling with the bucket. She rushed to his side. "I'll finish here, go get some logs for the fire and bring me two more buckets." She looked up once the boy was gone. "Apologies, my lord, I'll clean the spill."

They waved away her concern, too immersed in each other to pay attention to her, that was what had flustered Rogis so badly. They were standing facing each other, his hand pressed against the side of her neck, thumb on the hinge of her, her hand on top of his. She squeezed it and they separated, her face flustered enough they were aware of their audience.

Celys had a good look at them then and her first uncharitable thought was that Leana had been right about Lady Lannister. She was as big and almost as ugly as a Clegane, with a deforming scar on her cheek and crooked teeth in a wide mouth. By her side, Lord Lannister was as handsome as he had always been said to be, all sharp features and golden curls, even though the tiredness and dust of the road were apparent. They were both dressed simply in riding leathers, the cloaks already hanging by the hook on the door, and their swords had been already unbuckled from their belts. She could see now not just the scabbard but also the pommel, and they would not be mistaken by anything but Lannister swords, gleaming gold and rubies on the lion shaped hilt.

"Neither did you, Jaime," Lady Lannister continued as if the conversation had not paused at all.

"Then we both need the rest in a proper bed." He looked at where Celys was still filling the tub. Rogis was coming through the door with the rest of the water and the logs, not even looking at them. "And the bath, we've been too long on the road."

"It will be but a moment, my lord," Celys said, and he just waved his hand at her. It took her a moment to realize it wasn't a real one, but one made of gold, the hand he had kept at his wife's waist, not touching her skin.

"We'll eat first," Lady Lannister declared, taking the golden hand delicately between hers though he could not feel it, and they walked together to the table. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Celys saw them sitting facing each other, Lady Lannister moved the cutlery and jug of ale so they were on his left side without even looking at them, and picked the biggest chunk of bread and started cutting it all into smaller pieces, all this was done with the ease of long practice, the silence between them comfortable while they ate. Celys finished filling the tub and took from her pocket a bar of soap and a flannel, placing them on the floor by the tub. 

"Would you want me to come back to help milady with her bath?" she asked when there was nothing left for her to do.

"That's my job, my good woman," Lord Jaime said, for the first time his lips turning up on a smile as he looked at his wife, whose face was turning again that blotchy red from before. 

"Jaime," she hissed, but without heat, more like fond exasperation in her tone.

"And it's a job I enjoy thoroughly." He turned his eyes on Celys and she almost blushed under his attention and the way his smile transformed his entire face, the signs of tiredness from the road and age barely visible with the way his eyes crinkled at the corners, matching the smile on his mouth. "We don't need anything else, please ensure our horses are tended to as we'll leave early in the morrow. Make sure we're not disturbed tonight."

"Do you want me to bring you food to break your fast?" she asked as she picked up the empty buckets.

"Please do."

She curtseyed on the way out and got a last glimpse of them as she was closing the door, Lord Jaime had taken his wife's hand in his left one, thumb stroking the skin over he knuckles before turning it and kissing the palm, he released it and both got back to their meal as if such a gesture was so typical it was not even worth noticing. 

Celys had noticed it, though.

Celys thought about them as she got back to her duties, filling jugs and bowls and tending other patrons. She had seen many couples in the long years she'd had the inn, base and noble born alike, and she knew what convenience and fondness looked like, also what polite distance and dislike looked like. She had also seen couples in love, though those tended to be less frequent the higher born they were. 

Leana was wrong, the look of pure devotion on Lord Jaime's face and the care with which they tended to each other was not what one would see in a forced match. 

Not that Celys had any intention to tell her so.

...


End file.
